RCBS® was founded from a hobby, by Fred T. Huntington, in the early 1940's.

Originally located in the back room of his father's Oroville laundry on High Street, RCBS soon outgrew this modest beginning and in 1947 was relocated to Fred's garage on 7th Avenue. The business continued to grow quite rapidly, and several more moves took place. Today, RCBS is housed in about 110,000 square feet of building.

The very first RCBS dies were specifically designed to form jacketed bullets from fired .22 caliber copper cases. Because these bullets were used to shoot Rock Chucks - a varmint of the Western United States - RCBS named these dies Rock Chuck Bullet Swage, later shortened to RCBS.

Although they no longer manufacture bullet-swaging dies, RCBS is the leading manufacturer of ammunition reloading equipment for rifles and pistols. The brass case is the most expensive part of a loaded round, and when reloaded, offers savings of about 60% over factory-loaded ammunition. RCBS sells reloading equipment throughout the world and currently has a work force of one hundred employees.

RCBS was acquired by Omark Industries in July, 1976 and became part of the Sporting Equipment Division. In 1985, Omark Industries was in turn purchased by Blount, Inc.

In December of 2001, Alliant Tech Systems purchased RCBS. ATK is a leading provider of advanced weapon and space systems with approximately 15,000 employees and operations in twenty-two states. The company is the world's leading supplier of solid propulsion systems and the nation's largest manufacturer of ammunition. RCBS is part of ATK Civil Ammunition Group.

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Kittery Trading Post takes pride in offering the finest goods and service to enhance your time outdoors. From our selection of quality brands and products to the knowledge and personal service of our staff, we continually strive to maintain your confidence and trust. Thank you for your patronage.